Labour, environmental, and community groups to protest at private power industry gathering Tuesday

Media Advisory
March 10, 2008

Vancouver - A diverse group of citizens from environmental, community, and labour groups will protest the Gold Rush-style proliferation of private power Run of River projects at the annual gathering of the private power industry in Vancouver on Tuesday.

The rally will take place at 1:00 PM outside the Wosk Centre for Dialogue, on Seymour Street between Hastings and Pender Streets.

The groups participating in the protest rally are concerned about the BC Government's determination to develop hundreds of private power projects on BC rivers and streams. These projects are generating expensive and uneconomical power that BC does not need.

While the government and power industry try to portray these projects as "green," they are anything but, as demonstrated by the negative ecological impacts of run of river developments, such as the 34 dams and weirs proposed for the Toba-Montrose river system north of Powell River.

This issue has received a tremendous amount of attention in recent weeks surrounding the proposed development of eight dams and weirs on the Upper Pitt River watershed, just north of Vancouver. This development, which includes running transmission lines through Pinecone-Burke Provincial Park, threatens to have a devastating impact on several trout and salmon species, as well as grizzly bear, wolverine, and mountain goat habitats. Public concern over the projects was so great that public meetings in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows area were at capacity, with one meeting shut down by the local Fire Marshal.

Communities across the province are growing more and more concerned about the construction of these megaprojects without adequate government oversight and environmental protections.

DETAILS:

WHAT: Protest Rally Against Private Power

WHO: Coalition of community, environmental, and labour groups

WHERE: Wosk Centre for Dialogue
Seymour Street between Hastings and Pender

WHEN: Tuesday, March 11

TIME: 1:00 PM

For more information:
Mike Bruce, COPE 378 at 604.812.9049
Gwen Barlee, Western Canada Wilderness Committee 604.202.0322
Melissa Davis, BC Citizens for Public Power 778.887.5878
Lee-Ann Unger, West Kootenay Eco Society 604.607.5421